Walter James Turner was the eldest son of Walter James Turner (1857-1900), warehouseman, and his wife Alice May, nee Watson. He was educated at Scotch College and the School of Mines, before working as a clerk. In 1907 he went to London to become a writer. He spent some time in Germany and Austria in 1913-14 writing satirical sketches for the
New Age and concert reviews for the
Musical Standard. He served in the First World War during which he published
The Hunter and Other Poems
(1916), the first of sixteen volumes of poetry. From 1918-1940 he was music critic of the
New Statesman and for the first few years of that period was also literary editor of the
Daily Herald and drama critic for the London
Mercury. From 1941-46 Turner was literary editor of the
Spectator and general editor of the
Britain in Pictures series. His poetry received much acclaim and was admired by his acquaintance W. B. Yeats. He acquired his musical appreciation from his father, a one-time organist of St. Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne. Turner published scholarly studies of Beethoven (1927), Wagner (1933), Berlioz (1934) and Mozart (1938). Other publications include
In Time Like Glass (1921) which together with
The Hunter is most representative of his work. His semi-autobiographical work
Blow for Balloons (1935) draws on his Melbourne boyhood. He died in London.